1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to toy vehicles, and more particularly to drive mechanisms for inertia-type toy vehicles such as cars, trucks, and the like, which are initially propelled by the user and are then returned substantially back to the point of release under their own power by utilizing energy stored in a resilient member such as a rubber band or spring.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several resilient type driving mechanisms for toy vehicles for known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,645,039, 3,601,924 and 3,611,631 disclose vehicles propelled by energy stored in a rubber band. These particular drive mechanisms, however, do not allow the toy to reverse direction and return to the point of release. Another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,534, discloses a driving mechanism using a spiral spring which is wound by pushing the toy vehicle in the reverse direction, and then releasing the toy so that the spring unwinds, driving the vehicle in the forward direction only.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,830,403 discloses a toy vehicle which utilizes a spiral spring connected to a cord which wraps around a shaft provided with a tapered sleeve. When the toy vehicle is pushed in the forward direction, the cable wraps around the tapered sleeve and winds the spiral spring. Upon reaching the limit of travel, the spring unwinds, unwrapping the cord and allowing the vehicle to return to the user. This system utilizes a relatively complicated arrangement to transfer the energy stored in the springs to the driven axle, and the toy is capable of moving only in a straight line without changing orientation.
Another U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,333 describes a toy vehicle utilizing a helical spring coaxial with the driven axle. The toy vehicle disclosed in this patent, however, is again movable only in a straight line in the forward and reverse directions and cannot change its direction of orientation.